


Touch of the Warlock

by Shadeyrain



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, F/F, F/M, John is a dog, M/M, Minor John Egbert/Dave Strider, Rating May Change, Soulmate AU, Tags May Change, WITCHES AU, Warnings May Change, but not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-10 01:19:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2005527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadeyrain/pseuds/Shadeyrain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave really didn't get this whole soulmate thing.<br/>Hell, he didn't even get the whole witch thing yet either. </p><p>Maybe he didn't want to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Smog

Dave was going to kill his dog. He didn't give a shit about all that PETA noise, animal rights be damned. The dog was dead. As he scrounged the last of his magical energy to find the little fucker, Dave pinpointed the scuff of brown and black sniffing out food in the kitchen. He grated his teeth and rushed to catch him before-- Dave slide on his feet as he came to a stop at the doorway to his kitchen, where he was face to broad back with his older brother. He tried seeing around Bro's large, polo clad back, but he was impenetrable.

“Dave.” Dave swallowed. He could almost hear the quake of the animal in the other room, probably coward in the corner pissing itself. 

“Yeah?” He stood straight. So this was happening. It was a thing now. He had to deal somehow. So he pushed up his aviators over his crimson eyes and pulled out his courage to face his nemisis.

“What is this mongrel doing in our kitchen?” Dave could hear the animal's clicking nails as it circled the island, hiding. Dave waited for him to move so that he could protect the mutt.

“I guess he was hungry. I don't know.” Dave coughed as he casually ejected a shitty katana from his syladex. Readying for the battle. This time Bro moved, out of the way. But only enough that Dave felt safe moving pass him and staring at him from the other side of the doorway. “It's not like we have food in this house anyway. I told him we didn't have anything but poptarts and AJ.” Bro raised an eyebrow, but Dave gave the dog a meaningful glance. He had to glance again, though, because there was no longer a dog, but a human in a pair of sweats and square rims sliding down his nose. Dave glared at him, but Bro notice that Dave had been distracted. He could see the almost surprise on his face as his older brother stared at the shirtless 16-year-old. The brows beneathe his anime shades lifted to his hairline, but he gave it only that as he watched the kid lift a poptart to his mouth and stared at Dave with mischief in his smile.

“Awww, Dave! Poptart is sooooooo much better than the cake my dad makes.” He voiced, his words muffled behind poptart chewings.

“You're not old enough for a familiar, Dave.”

“He's not my familiar, Bro. He's my friend.” There was a silence, save for the crumbling of pastries in John's chipmunk-y cheeks. Dave glared at the boy as he licked up the last bit of his snack, but before he could command that he follow back to his bedroom, where the dog-boy was suppose to be, Bro reached out to grab him by the arm.

“Well get him out. I'm having friends over and he would be a distraction if he were sensed by unpaired witches, so--” He saw the muscles in Bro's arms tense, his white polo stretching taunt against his Texas tan. He didn't move, the vaguely Asian boy tugging his arm away before Bro could actually pull him anywhere. He still didn't move, other than to tilt his head slightly to look at the kid.

“John, come on. Let's go.” He coaxed John from around the island and they walked out together.

“What the hell is his problem?” He whispered as they left the flat, taking the stairs out to the elevator, then the street forty stories below.

“He's picky about who I keep company with. Sorry.” Dave grumbled as he smoothed his German blonde hair back against his pale skin. John scuffed his own dark brown, nearly black hair as he stepped out onto the broken sidewalk. Dave voiced a command to him to follow, and John obeyed well enough. In the world of Magic, where the term Wizard was unfortunately unacceptable, a familiar was all the word entailed. They were magically connected to a witch, and sometimes did their bidding. Dave was too young to have a familiar, but he had known John for a very long time. John, being a dog, could be a little out of sync with his surrounding. Dave knew that John was hearing the siren in the distance like it was only a block away, hearing conversations across the street, all the sounds of the city messed with his concentration. So, even when John was not his companion, Dave treated him like it. A firm command or a soft whistle was well appreciated, and he didn't do it often, or get upset or angry if he decided not to obey. John was his friend, his first real friend. Sure they had other close friendships, but what was his was also John's. 

They were currently headed to a pair of friends who they knew well. John didn't question where they went, only blindly followed, but the moment they left the apartment complex John knew where Dave wanted to go. He knew, because after all these years of practicing magic and being by his side, Dave had imprinted on John a vague idea of what a companionship would be like. John siphoned magic from Dave, like all familiars did. From that connection, it was like a ward to other witches that John was taken. John could also get vague impressions about what Dave was feeling, or snatches of important information that he was given them. It was a weak version of a true companionship.

As they walked, Dave noticed people staring at John. He was still without shirt. John had discarded it in the middle of making a joking jab at Dave's girl crush for him. But it didn't go unappreciated, since John sported a softly defined six-pack and hints of lean muscle under the soft outer coat of fat. That could make Dave sigh wistfully. He and John had fooled around before, nothing too serious. But ultimately, John had decided he could only feel what Witches thought of as “pale” feelings for him. John had laughed at Dave when he explained the four types of romance that Witches liked to live by, but easily adapted. Dave accepted that from John. Moirails for now, but once Dave became a full-fledged Witch...

John seemed to realize he was half unclothed, and quickly transformed into his animal shape. The little, clumsy Austrailian Shepard pranced at his side happily, tongue lolling from the side of his muzzle. He sported mostly brown and black fur, with tufts of white making the pattern complete. But it was his brilliant blue eyes that let Dave know that this was his John, and not just any dog.

“You are so lucky that this town doesn't enforce the leash law.” Dave scoffed at him. John grumbled something at him, thought Dave was not versed in doggy speak. “Yeah, bow-wow and everything like that. I don't understand you when you talk to me like that.” Dave reminded him. John's prance died as they walked up on the house that housed four of their dear friends.

Instead of having to ring a doorbell, he was greeted at the door by his dear “sister.” Rose Lalonde was not in fact a sister by blood, but she had told him that in nearly every previous life they had been born brother and sister. They said nothing about the fact that Bro had sired her.

Rose, average height with much more German genes in her than he, gave the impression of a carefully painted European portrait at every moment. Her black lips, straight blonde hair held black with a black hairband, and her dark clothing was the flair of her girlfriend and companion. Dave gave her a heads up as he passed into the front room, and John woofed enthusiasticly at her greeting.

“I saw you both leave the flat. I knew you would show up, since Bro is entertaining tonight.” She liked to tell what she saw, just to keep you in the loop of her visions. Dave knew she saw many things, but when she acted on things she would usually explain the visions that gave cause to her effect. Dave scanned the company she was keeping in the living room. 

To one side, in a couch sat Kanaya, all dainty and elegant against the black soffa. She was awake, though her body was curled up and tail tucked against her muzzle, but she was always listening when her Rose was doing things. Rose glanced at her with a sympathy. “She and I practiced soul transfer last night. I'm afraid she might be a little more worn out that I am. I apologize on her behalf for not being sociable.” Rose explained with a soft gaze on the pure white feline curled on the soffa.

“That's alright! We came to talk to Jade, anyway.” John was back on two feet, smiling and pushing his glasses further up his nose. Rose nodded, a knowing smile on her face. 

“Outside, then.” She turned and John followed with a new vigor in his step. He and Jade were related, somehow. The real relation was strange and back-ass-wards, but Rose said that they  
were similar to Rose and himself. Before, they use to be brother and sister. 'It's simply that in another universe that we can't imagine, our souls were siblings.' She would say when they questioned it.

“Jade!” John cried as he ran out into the backyard. Dave followed with Rose at his side as they watched the large, white dog catch the neon green Frisbee and then freeze and prick ears at them. Large green eyes watched John run out into the lawn. The samoyed grinned behind the Frisbee.

“John!” She cried between her teeth and the green disk, pulling it out with her human hand and then hiking herself towards John in great big stomping boots. She flung her whole 6 foot self over John's miniscule 5'6''. They crashed to the floor, Jade peppering kisses on his forehead like the sweet, doting supposed sister she was.

“I missed you, Jade! Why did you ever leave?” John giggled as he hugged her tight between his muscle-bound forearms, easily picking the both of them up and setting her down as she giggled at being squeezed.

“Well, I brought my Witch back with me, so you can see why I left!” Jade adjusted her round glasses as John did, and then pulled her hair out of her face to look to the left, where the reason for her 5 month long absence stood with his arms stuffed into his hoodie. John's grin grew wide.

“Karkat!!” He cried as he flew into the Middle Eastern. Karkat jumped, receiving the boy in his arms to steady them from falling as he had with Jade.

“Fuck!” Karkat wheezed as John squeezed him just as he had Jade. But rather than feeling affection, the hooded boy seemed to deflate under the pressure of John's hug.

“I'm so happy to meet you! I can't believe this all happened!”

“I think you're killing him, Egbert.” Dave interjected as he saw life start to leave the kids lungs. Karkat sent a thankful glance Dave's way as John dropped Karkat, a flush settling on his cheeks.

“Oh. Sorry! Heh.” John shrugged and Karkat snarled at him, his dark eyes hooded under dark, thin brows. He was clean-shaven, only a hint of shadow along his chin. But his dark skin made up for it, with flawless copper skin contrasting perfectly with his messy mop of black hair. It was a good match to the personality that John had uncovered under his screaming text and caps-locked words.

"God fucking damnit Egbert, if I wanted a broken rib I would have marched out onto the nearest freeway and let a fucking bus run me over! I could have saved you a fuck-ton of time and cut out the middle man, John 'Rupture-Your-Organs' Egbert, entirely!" Karkat barked hugging his sides and finishing his rant with a snappish "you shit eating douche" for good measure. Jade came to stand near Karkat, an arm snaking around to hold his as she giggled.

“Don't be a jackass, Karkat. John was really excited to meet you!” She exclaimed. John smiled at her as Dave and Rose joined them on the patio, instead of standing there in the doorway. John gave a bit of a nervous laugh as Karkat looked him over again, but then Dave took his attention and they ceremoniously fistbumped for the first time. Karkat seemed a little miffed by Dave's chosen method of greeting, but otherwise they said nothing to each other as Rose began a conversation with him about their trip home.

John had been excited. But more so he had been nervous. He had seen plenty of paired witches and familiars. He knew plenty. But in all his life he had never known one before they were paired. And in this case, mated. John had been there when Jade set out on her quest for her soulmate. A witch and a familiar sometimes found each other again and again in every life, and that could build up a souls trust with another soul. Jade didn't really believe in that sort of thing. But, she was tired of deadbeat witches who didn't treat her like a person, but rather only an animal and pet. She wanted to try to find her witch soulmate. So they all helped as she went into her week-long search as she meditated and sent out her soul to be found by her mate. Karkat had been meditating for a long, long while. He had almost given up when he felt her reach out just before he fell asleep. They had talked before, being introduced via John. Rose said that Karkat's soul had recognized him, since in lives before he had been Jade's sister and therefore resonated the same way Jade did in his soul. John was nervous about how they would change, as his friends and as people. Rose had already been mated with Kanaya, since they were little. Now John was seeing the effect of soul mating in action.

Karkat he couldn't say much for. He only knew from his pesters, but those hadn't changed in all the time Jade had spent with him in the middle east. Jade hardly seemed changed either, or so he thought from her pesters. But now she was standing here, he wondered. She didn't seem different. But he knew she was. The arm twined with Karkat's was evidence. So was the nice tan she sported. John tried to swallow his nervousness. It hadn't really hit him until just today, either. But he couldn't sit still. It was nagging at him, and for some reason now it wasn't just about Jade changing. What if Dave found his soulmate? The insecurities wrapped him around as he thought about it more.

"Hey, Egbert! Everything okay up in that empty space of yours you call a brain?" He was rused from his thoughts as Karkat's chocolate eyes settled on him. John blinked big blue ones, and then looked up at him.

“What?” He wondered out loud. Karkat's brows furrowed further over his almond eyes as he stared at John carefully.

"I was watching that shit storm brewing up in your aura. It's like a fucking smog cloud. That's a dangerous shade of black." Everybody was focused on John. Under his blanket of insecurities, something else twinged. Something bright, and golden under the darkness. It pulled at his heart and his breath seemed to leave his body.

“I-I....I don't know. It's weird. I feel so weird.” He grasped at his chest, but he couldn't reach for the golden light behind the swathing of darkness. He turned to look at the blonde by his side. Dave caught his arm as he wobbled on his feet. Dave's fingers pressed into his arm, Karkat was shouting something at them but he couldn't hear them over what now sounded like a heartbeat in his ears. He thought it was his own, but it didn't keep time to the quick slamming against his ribcage. John fell into the smog that ate him up.


	2. Neon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John ease-drops. Only his aura gives him away.

“So you're sure?”

"Of course I'm sure," The words filtered into his consciousness. Hig slow breathes felt heavy to him, and his eyelids felt like they were made of lead. He swallowed down into his parched throat, instantly regretting it.

“But it's not...not...”

“Not you?” He could pick out Rose's soft voice. Everybody was quiet. He could pick out the voices now. A cat purred somewhere in the room, presumably in the spot that Rose also took up. He could hear Dave's insistently bouncing leg. It was something he did, no matter what, but this time it was jerky and very, very nervous.

“That's not--!” Dave seemed to acknowledge John again and then lowered his tone, “I didn't mean that. I just don't know who it could be. I've been with him since yesterday.”

"That doesn't matter dumb fuck. It doesn't matter if it was yesterday or last year. Hell, it could have been at any unfortunate point in the dweeb's life. Birth for instance." There was a pause. "Look, I'm telling you what I know, and I'm as sure as the shit in your bowels about it. His soulmate is looking for him, and they've come in physical contact before." John could hear Dave grind his teeth at the statement. He could almost picture the cool being peeled away from Dave's perfect image.

“And what, since they started to look he'll be sick until they find him?” John heard Karkat harsh a sigh, and then shift a bit. He could hear Jade shift in the seat next to him.

"Okay listen up you asinine shit sack. Being soul mates is practically sharing a soul. That, captain douche bag of impacted ear central, means that being separated is like your soul being split in half. On a scale of one to fucked side ways with a cactus, how much do you think that could hurt? Don't even answer that, because it's the fucking cactus. Anyway, because of that whole bonded soul shit it's beyond easy to find your other half. Like you both decide it would be the greatest thing to slap a neon sign around your neck saying 'Hi I'm your bitch'. And in some unfortunate bastards case when one is looking for the other it's like taking those neon signs and repeatedly ramming them through your goddamn chest. Not even a moment of fucking resistance on that pale as fuck shit you call flesh, that baby goes right the fuck through on its merry fucking way. That's basically what happened to this pile of piss stained rags."

“That didn't happen for you or Jade.” Karkat harshed another sigh, almost growling, and stomped a little bit. Jade sighed as well, but the patience was clearly there.

“Dave. What Karkat is trying to say is that because John has physically come in contact with his soulmate already, it's going to hurt him being so far away from them while his other half is looking for him. Think of it like John has a string of elastic stuck on his back. His soulmate has physically picked up that string, and now John has walked away. His soulmate wants to find John, so he lets go of the elastic, to follow it. John feels the backlash because, have you ever been snapped by a rubber band, Dave?”

“Yeah, that shit hurts.” Karkat chimed, sitting back. Dave shuffled uncomfortable in his seat. John held his breathe.

He hadn't realized that the anxiety he had felt earlier was in fact because HE had found HIS soulmate. Not because he was nervous about Jade, or Dave. The thought churned his stomach. He still felt the nerves. They must still be looking for John, whoever they were. But as he thought about the new information, the conversation went by the wayside. Until he was interrupted in his train of thought.

“John?” Karkat queried, making him let out his hitched breathe. John opened his eyes slowly, and turned his head to look out onto the room. His brow refused to unfurl, but he managed to curl a smile at them, which really looked more terrifying than reassuring.

“Hi guys.” He mumbled against the pillow under his head. He sighed, but closed his eyes again.

"John, cool that smoldering rubble of brain you have left. We don't need you trying to slaughter your already impaired brain cells with a higher fever. Or suffocating them by blacking out again." Karkat stood as John felt the anxiety gain again.

“I'll try not to. But I guess I need to start meditating, huh?” He guessed as Karkat came to lean next to him on the black sofa. He felt Karkat press his palm to his back. It was comforting. But that was just Karkat's magical talent. Being able to see aura's and read emotional vibes gave Karkat a hand up in helping others and calming them down. Even if he was far from being Mr. Calm himself. If John had a guess, he would say that Karkat probably absorbed all the worlds rage and spewed it himself.

“I'll help you...” John giggled as he mentioned something under his breathe, which sounded more like 'even if I don't want to.'

“Thanks Karkat. But I think I want to go home. I don't even know if I want to have a soulmate!” John looked back at Karkat as Jade gasped behind him, covering her mouth. Karkat raised his brows, but otherwise said nothing.

“Sweet. I'll take you home, then. Get up.” Dave rushed Karkat away from him and then began pulling him from the couch like his life depended on it.

“Dave! Be courteous, John is not in full health!” Rose cried as John stumbled to his feet next to Dave. He grinned at Rose, but Dave answered instead.

“Look at him. He'll live.” Dave heaved John's arm over his shoulder and they turned away to leave. Everyone in the household watched with worry on their features. The white feline rose her head to blink at them, impassive. 

 

“I can walk now, Dave.” John mused as the blonde shoved his arm off his shoulder, almost moodily. John smirked at him, but otherwise gave him no other words as they walked back to his apartment, where they would take Dave's sedan back to his suburb. John just wanted to give Dave a hug, but he knew Dave wouldn't appreciate it. Or at least he didn't think he would. He knew Dave might take this harder than John ever would if Dave found his soulmate. But acknowledging that would make Dave fly off the rail. Yes, that shit would be gone if John let him know he was sorry. But as they walked, and John thought about it a little more, he realized he was feeling better with every step. He felt lighter. And as they found his complex, towering high and amusingly not a place that John imagined a warlock and his apprentice living in, he could actually smile. Somebody was looking for him. He could finally feel safe from all the scary witches Dave told him about, and the ones who he had met firsthand. Witches were sort of deranged without familiars. Familiars were like a permanent, live in moirail. Dave had done what he could to stave off the witches who did sense him in the area. But some were more persistent. There were two or three witches in the area who would hound him if Dave was not around. So that was why he didn't really like going many places without Dave.

Dave stopped him by the car. John watched as he patted for his keys, but instantly realized he had left them in the apartment. “Stay here. I'm sure Bro is still up there with his...friends.” He murmured as he turned to flashstep up the stairwell in half the time it took for them to ride the elevator. John frowned, and realized that the car doors were actually open. He took a seat inside, but then realized he had left his shirt in Dave's room. He could walk up to get it. But like last time, Bro might try to strangle him or something. He furrowed his brows, but then decided that he still wanted his shirt back. He opened the car door, and began to walk towards the building. But then, an overwhelming cloud of magic hit him. Bro was having friends over. From the feel of it, some of them didn't have familiars, and at this point they would probably be all over him, since Dave was gone and his soulmate was...well he didn't know where. John sheepishly dropped back into the car and chewed his cheek. 

Maybe Dave would get his shirt.


	3. Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave looses his shit.

Dave flung off his shades, fisting his eyeballs as he sighed. What was he going to do? The idea that John, of all people!, would be finding his soulmate so soon was frightening. He squeezed his eyes tightly and quit rubbing them, but settled for pinching the corners. Laying back on his bed, shirt raised and hair thrown from his forehead, he could feel the upset begin to bubble inside of him. He couldn't understand why it had to be John. It had been so obvious that the household of soulmate dipshits could see why Dave was having a hard time with this. John only felt completely normal, nowhere out-of-the-ordinary platonic feelings for Dave. But Dave was still caught up in his dorky smile and stocky build and optimism. If only he had found his soulmate first. Things would have been so much better then.

“Lil' bro?” There was a knock on the door. Dave rolled his eyes. He groped for his shades, but the door opened before he could really find them. Sitting up, Dave saw Bro lean against the frame of the door. He raised a brow at the few tears that had escaped from his ducts, but he quickly brushed them away and snatched his shades, quickly sliding them on and leaning back against his bed on both hands.

“Yo.” He could feel the tremble in his voice, trying his best to clear his throat of the thick coating there. Bro watched him carefully, almost thoughtfully, before continuing.

“Pizza. What do you want?” He remained still on his bed, his thoughts catching up to the question slowly. Dave gripped the sheets before realizing he wanted to order pizza.

“Pepperoni and olive.” He stood this time, his voice feeling better once he cleared it some more. “Extra cheese.” Bro nodded, and left with his door open. Dave clenched his jaw, because that was Bro's way of saying that he was worried and an open invitation for him to spill. In the past, Dave had taken it up. When he realized he was not in fact straight, or when he had his first   
relationship fuck up, or getting bad grades in gym because he was nervous about his overly stick skinny body.

But this was different. Dave never said anything to Bro about his witch problems outside of practice time. There had never really been problems like this. Dave's only problem with his magic had been the fact that it was so hard to even use in the first place! He was not overflowing with magical ability, and concentration was a thing needed to use it. He turned to the door and closed it quietly. He didn't need Bro in his personal shit like that.

It reminded him what John had said before he had left him at his house two days ago. He turned to find the shirt on the floor by his computer desk. Bending to pick it up, Dave lifted it to his face. Egbert musk, so much of it. He sighed and took a faceplant to his bed with the shirt still next to his nose. He needed to find his soulmate. He needed a reason to get over John.

As he was about to sit up and straighten his room to meditate, he heard faint laughter in the other room. Bro never laughed out loud, and he usually announced when he was going to have anybody over, then promptly kicked him out for that duration. What was going on? He flash-stepped into the hall, and then made his prowl of the house until he found the source.

It was like the world broke in two as he looked into the kitchen. Bro was standing face to face with the shorter, stocky boy he had only ten seconds ago(wait, it had been longer. Damnit.) been mooning over. John was smiling this briliantly shining smile, something so pure and happy. He was looking up to Bro, a hand on one of Bro's massive forearm. His fingertips brushing Bro's arm, his smile, and the smile across Bro's face, It all pointed to an end he didn't accept. Rage filled his chest as he ripped himself from the shadows that seemed to melt around him, trying to keep him there. 

He wouldn't be still. “John!” He cried as John turned to watch him enter. Bro's smile left. John's face dimmed, but he smiled still at him.

“Dave!” He giggled a little. Bro moved away before he could glare satisfactorily at him. John shifted to his other foot, just a little awkwardly. “Hehe. I came over to get my shirt! I need it for next weekend. You know, it's my only black tee!” He poked his pink tongue out a little between his adorable buck teeth and saw that Dave had accidentally brought it out with him. His face lighted at the shirt, but Dave lifted it away.

“What were you two talking about?” John couldn't see his glare through the shades, but he knew Dave's little nuances. It was a part of being a dog for such a long time. John leaned away, the awkwardness back with a vengence.

“Oh. Dave I--”

“He's my companion.” Bro intoned from the counter, were he leaned with his forearms supporting him from behind, his legs crossed at the ankles in front of him. He lifted his chin so that he was looking down his straight nose at Dave. Dave stared. The straight line across his face tightened as he worked out what was going on. While the idea settled upon him, he studied Bro. His blonde hair, more of a golden blonde than his own platinum locks. Some days he cared enough to style them, leaving his cap at home. But today was a cap day. The old thing was from his college years, which in reality had only been a few years ago. Bro wasn't that old. He just felt like Bro knew too much for his age. He wore his white polo, tucked into black slacks and belted with a silver buckle. In the house, he wore no shoes. Actually, Dave had never really seen him put shoes on. But somehow, he always managed to get them on even on short notice. That was one fucking mystery Dave never intended to figure out.

Bro was a weird fucker. That was part of the reason he had protected John for all these years. Bro was into things he thought that no warlock should willing flaunt like he did. Everytime he had a friend over, he had to stuff all the stupid, felt-y puppets that looked anything vaguely like a plush rump or had a quivering proboscis into the fridge, or cupboard, or in one case his own bag. School the next day had been fucking nerve wrecking. He didn't even know what Bro kept in his room. Another mystery he never intended to investigate.

But now John was involve. He was Bro's familiar. He had given Bro the brightest smile he had ever seen elicited from John's features. The idea meshed together with the fact that John had been mentally attacked a few days ago by his soulmate.

John was more than just his companion. They were soulmates. They were fucking soulmates.

Dave let the shadows consume him.

 

“Sorry.” John could feel a strong, very capable hand on his shoulder to accompany the tenor of his voice. He could feel, even through the cotton of his shirt the warmth of magic radiating from his palm. Bro wasn't doing it. That was only their mated bond. The tingle down his spine, the supernatural warmth on his shoulder, the feeling of safety. It was all because of being mated to a witch. No, a warlock. Bro had made sure he knew that. He had begun to explain the details when Dave had interrupted. But after a moment of silence and stillness, Dave had run off after Bro had stated that they were companions. It wasn't that John was confused. He knew Dave would react this way. He was just worried. Worried that his best friend was upset, by himself. But when Dave wanted to be alone, he would be alone. There was no stopping him.

John turned to his new companion. He couldn't come to call him his new master, because that would mean he were more intimate with Bro, and despite the fact that Bro was a physically attractive man, he wasn't really John's type. He was Dave's brother! If that said anything, it was that he was much like Dave, and he could only ever think of Dave as his friend. John gave him a weak smile, and Bro smiled tightly back. 

“I guess he's just going to boil by himself...” John sighed to him as he moved his hand to his arm and guided him back to the kitchen, and away from Dave's door.

“The kid will get through it.” John frowned as he looked down to the floor. Where Dave had been standing was a pile of ash, which use to be his only black tee shirt. It was still smoldering, a steady stream of smoke rising from the little licks of flame that occasionally ate the remnants of his shirt. John's brow furrowed.

He really didn't want to leave Dave alone with himself.


	4. Soulmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe John isn't special, but he is different.

John Egbert. That seemed to be the name of his soulmate. In all his years of being companion-less, and in general an outcast from the magic community, Dirk Strider didn't think he would ever find his. Being a warlock made it hard on him when it came to the idea. A normal familiar could not handle his power. Sometimes, he couldn't handle it. It was a curse as well as a strange blessing. It had led him to Dave, another like himself. Though Dave wasn't his blood brother in this lifetime, in lives before they had been true brothers. And that meant that Dave would someday be as powerful as he was. 

That was why he had expressly warned Dave against hanging around familiars. Although Dave was only a fledgling, his ability was already far surpassing many apprentices his age. Where they were only finishing the basics of drawing a circle of power, Dave could manage a circle without physically drawing one. He could summon his element without a beat of hesitation, he had a vague grasp of other elements and could control them to an extent. He'd had visions since he was young, his grasp on magic was unparallelled. Dave was growing exponentially. The only way to keep him at bay was to tell him he sucked. Every time they practiced, he would whip out the insults and prey on Dave's insecurities until he finally gave up. That usually ended with a strife, in which Dave always thought he lost. He was good, enough to wound him. But Dirk specialized in healing and heart magic. His wounds closed before his blood could well to the surface, giving the effect that he hadn't been cut at all. Dave also had a strong healing ability. Where he was bruised and bloodied, by the next morning would be healed. He wondered why Dave didn't take note of that, since it wasn't his doing. It was all Dave's magic by which he healed. 

He was just as worried for Dave as he was excited to see him feel the full extent of his magic. Once a warlock bloomed, it was exhilarating and everything felt clear in mind, body and soul. Dirk could remember when he figured it out. After years of confusion and hiding what he did from others, somebody had approached him and unlocked his true talent as a warlock. But not before making his own mistakes. 

One of those mistakes was trying to take a companion. He had only been a week or so into full witch-hood, and they clicked so well. But it didn't last very long. Everything they did together, when it came to Magic, only hurt his familiar. As he gained power, his familiars all grew weaker. He gave up only a year after that, a since then he's never taken a familiar. 

But John Egbert was his soulmate. A familiar that his soul recognized from many past lives. Somebody his soul knew could handle him. It was strange that something so fleeting and unheard could know so much better than he did. And could tell him things so loudly, without words. But what his soul was telling him was that he was suppose to drain another familiar. He was only a dog, there was nothing special when it came to John Egbert and magic. Maybe his soul was mistaken. Maybe John was so close to who his soulmate was that his soul thought it was that soul.

At first he just tried to call out mentally. As a warlock, he could soul-search without meditating. Dave had done so many times on his own. He said it was nothing, but it was much more than that. Searching for somebody else's soul with your own usually took a very powerful witch with a talent in empathic powers. Dave passed off everything he could do as low level magic.

When again his soul tried reaching out to John, he got irritated. John was not enough.

Meditating brought the same result. Only this time, it was immediate, like a nail to a magnet. John couldn't be enough. Could he?

Soul mates didn't have to feel romantic feelings for each other. Many did, but just as many didn't. Sure, John was a cute kid. In fact, he hit every point of Dirk's personal preferences when it came to his physical tastes. He was a lot packaged into a little space. Slightly Shota, sweetly dorky. But he didn't stand out. There were millions of people out there with his same preferences. He'd dated plenty to know that. The only thing on John Egbert that stuck out was his brilliant Caribbean blue eyes. They sparkled like sapphires at him, sent shivers down his spine when he began to think about the things they saw. 

But that was all John was. A boy with blue eyes. A mutt with a sweet disposition. And still, grabbing his arm that day had created a firework show of shivers and tingles, warmth like sunshine sitting on his skin. He wasn't prepared, and it caught him off guard.

Dave had been hiding his soulmate from him all this time, because apparently Dirks pass times were too much for a sweet little shota's mind. Maybe having warned Dave about having familiars around would be a bad idea also caused him to hide John. Dirk knew he couldn't have a companion, and now he had a soulmate who was nothing special. John Egbert was nothing special, but looking at the boy now, standing in his kitchen with a pop tart in his mouth, peering into his cellular devise, he couldn't attest to the truth of the statement. John was different. 

He was different because of his eyes. He was different because of his soul. Neither of those things were actually something special. But when Dirk looked at the kid, and he looked back with this jubilant sparkle in his sapphire eyes, he knew there was something different about John. Maybe it was purely the fact that those two things were so much John he couldn't handle. He didn't even know the kid, yet it was like he'd talked a thousand conversations, seen a thousand smiles from his toothy face. He could almost anticipate what was going to say or do next. So when he saw the frown on his face, Bro knew he needed his help.

“Hey Bro...” He called, setting his phone on the island and beckoning him close. Bro had no choice but to reply. He settled for the other side of the island, and looked John over closely before realizing that the kid could probably see him through the anime shades. 

“What is it, kid?” He murmured cooly, watching as John looked down at his phone before shutting the screen off.

“I was wondering if you could maybe...” Bro crooked a brow, “Possibly...” His frown twitched at his not so hesitant hesitation, “Perhaps....” Bro broke into a grin, “Conceivably...” He finally laughed.

“You know I'll do whatever you want, kid. It kind of comes with the package, now.” John crooked a smile at him, but there was still a little twinge of nervous worry behind it. That made Bro stare as John nervously giggled.

“Oh. Yeah.” John swirled his fingertips against the counter, and looked at them as he did. “Then, I was wondering if you could talk to Dave for me? I wasn't sure that was something you two did or if maybe I should just go ask him myself...”

“Ask him what?” He purposefully left the question open, because depending on the answer he might find reservations in talking to Dave.

“Oh. Rose seems to think that Dave maybe knew something...about me....and she needed to know if he was stressed about just the soulmate thing or if he was thinking about something....else? I don't know, they talked and Dave and I have been in some....uh....fucked up shit so I was wondering if he knew something I didn't? I don't know. He's just acting really strangely and I've really never seen him use his powers as much as he has the past weeks so it's kind of bothering me if he has something else on his mind other than just this whole soulmate business, you know? And I--”

“Do you ramble when you're nervous?” At his words John looked up. The worry written all over his face plain melted his heart. John was so worried for Dave. Between the endearment that John cared that much for Dave, he realized just then that he should probably be more worried about Dave himself. Not about the magic thing, but the.....feelings thing. He wasn't certain what was going on between Dave and John, but he knew from the look on John's face now that something ran deeper than friendship between the two. John, returned to swirling patterns, had a light pink dusting on his cheeks.

“Can you just talk to him? Or at the very least ask him to talk to Rose?” He mumbled as Bro shifted. He didn't answer, he only acted.

It was a good thing he could teleport at will. Dave thought, because there were trapdoors hidden all over the house, that he just used those to sneak in places. Sometimes he giggled inwardly because those trapdoors hadn't been used for years, except to hide his exceptionally prized puppets. A few years back, he had acquired a useful teleportation spell that he easily burned into the soles of his shoes, and covered with his insoles. Now it was just like flipping a switch.

Now standing behind Dave, who was typing furiously into his pesterchum client at his desk, Bro decided to watch. Tears rolled down his cheeks, his shades resting on the floor next to him. He didn't relent from his typing until a wall of red text was dominating the window. Then he paused, sniffing a little as he wiped his cheeks uselessly and waited. Just at the bottom, a string of purple text popped up. He barely read it and he was off typing again, this time a long message that required answering. The pink replied quickly, and Dave just sat there staring. He stared long enough that the black of his monitor caught his eye and he realized that Bro was in fact standing behind him. He jumped, caught himself and then swiveled around. This time he didn't try to hide his tears. He seemed to far gone to act cool. But he didn't speak. He left that up to his older non-sibling.

“John is worried.”

“He should be.” Dave replied before Bro had a chance to continue. There was a glare in his eyes, and Bro stared at him hard before continuing.

“Don't be a jackass. I don't even know the kid, and I know he doesn't deserve a shitty friend like you.”

“Yeah, well I know him. I know he wouldn't like to hear anything I have to say.” He watched Dave clamp his hand on the plastic of his armchair. He held tight.

“So what do you have to say, Dave?” At that, Dave held his breath. He let it out, long and slow, before turning away and bringing a hand to his face.

“I've kept him safe from other witches for years. We were best friends and then we were friends with benefits, and now I don't know what anymore. And I'm still...”Bro could hear the hitch in his breathe. But he continued, even with a cracked voice. “I'm still wishing it had been me.” He voice was low and tear ridden, but now it was steady. “But I wasn't good enough. It had to be you. Everything I can't be and it's you. I was still hoping that even if we've been kind of companions all these years, I would become a full-fledged witch and he would be my soulmate. Like a puzzle or some shit. But it was you, not me.”

“Dave, you know if you were true soulmates, age doesn't matter...”

“I know. We would have bonded already. I know. But I had hoped...that maybe we would...” He lost the strength to hold his head up, and just held it in his hands. They sat in silence for what seemed to be forever. And then Dave took a deep breathe. He lifted his head, rubbed his tears away, and there was a fire in his eyes he had never seen in the red of them. Dave took his hand away from the plastic of his armchair, wear it had mottled so much to Dave's hand it looked like a ragged tree branch. There was something so astute in Dave's stance he wasn't sure he wanted to face it.

“There is something you need to know about John.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if these chapters seemed a little short and to the point. I just wanted to get the ball rolling!
> 
> Originally I intended for this to be Bro/John to the max, but Dave snuck in with all his feels and my feels told me that it wouldn't be right if it was all just happy fun times for John and Bro, so maybe I need to some Dave angst in there to balance out all the relationship building that will be happening in the future.
> 
> Also, how would you people feel if I add in a pepsicola sidequest of sorts? Right now everything is all hunky-dory and totes SFW, but in the next few, tensions are gonna rise, i think. Or maybe not. sometimes the story changes on me so suddenly I don't realize it changed until I've written it. 
> 
> Take for instance the fact that Dave will be a warlock. That was not actually in the plans. I was typing and Dirk decided to tell me and I was just like "whoops. I didn't know that, THANKS FOR INFORMING ME DIRK."


	5. Shaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pestering people is a good idea sometimes.

John could feel his hands shaking. He had only come to Dave's house to pick up his tee shirt. When his eyes met the naked, golden shine of his eyes, something inside had clicked. Actually, his heart nearly leaped out his throat and his palms and toes tingled and a shiver went down his spine. He could only imagine what Bro was feeling, but it seemed to be mutual as they stared each other down. How had he missed it the first time? According to Karkat, the first touch of a soulmate should feel tingly and warm. Strong. He never recalled anything when Bro grabbed his arm, but apparently it had been there? He couldn't be sure. His mind that day had been on Jade finally coming home.  


His mouth had lulled open at the idea of his soulmate being...him. He gaped and watched Bro finish cleaning his shades(a thing he had been doing the whole time and totally not forgetting about when he first saw the kid) and stick them right back on. John had been a tad upset about that. But his initial words(“Hey kid”) and the little smile on his face filled John with a misplaced delight that almost made him smile. And then he realized he was kind of programmed to feel that way. It put a damper on his mood.  


And so now they were soulmates. No rhyme or reason. No kind of meaning, it seemed. Bro had smiled at him, but then as he explained his surprise and why he was here and his next dentist appointment(“Yeah, you got a mess in there.”) and all sorts of different things that he could ramble about when he was nervous, Bro stopped him. And he began talking about being a warlock. He began to explain something about what that meant for his familiar, but then Dave came out of his room.  


Boy had he been upset. John knew he would be, when he found out about Bro being his soulmate. But he hadn't said anything about that yet! They had just been talking, and then he was still upset, but then Bro moved away(no!come back!) and he had to tell Dave what was going on. Bro just didn't understand! Dave was a delicate flower! How had he lived so long with the younger Strider and not known that???  


Somehow his first reaction was to pester Karkat.

EB: karkat!  
CG: JOHN WHAT DO YOU WANT  
CG: I AM A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT  
EB: guess what????????  
EB: i found my soulmate!  
EB: i guess it was daves brother????????  
CG: YOU MEAN THE WARLOCK DOUCHEBAG LONER? THE ONE WHO IS SO LONE WOLF THAT THE MOON DOESN'T FUCKING RISE TO SAY HELLO AT NIGHT AND INSTEAD JUST SAYS 'FUCK YOU ASSHOLE IM GOING TO THE OTHERSIDE OF THE WORLD EVEN IF I WAS JUST THERE SIX HOURS AGO. TAIWAN IS GOING TO START ASKING QUESTIONS UNLESS YOU GTFO'  
CG: THAT GUY?  
EB:yes karkat that guy.  
CG:WHAT THE FUCK DOES DAVE THINK ABOUT THIS?  
CG: I THOUGHT HE WAS CRUSHING ON YOU  
CG: LIKE HARDCORE  
CG: I THOUGHT YOU TWO USE TO BUTT FUCK OR SOME SHIT.  
EB: ew no karkat!  
EB: we didnt do that!!!!!!!!  
CG: THATS NOT WHAT DAVE TOLD ME  
EB: what did dave tell you????????  
EB: wait no dont answer that!  
EB: we just made out a little and held hands  
EB: thats it, i swear!  
CG: ...  
EB: please dont tell jade tho!   
CG: WHY CANT I TELL JADE  
CG: JOHN HUMAN WHY CANT I TELL JADE  
CG: JOHN  
CG: JOHN PLEASE  
CG: THIS IS ME BEGGING.  
CG: JOHN TELL ME  
CG: WHY CANT I TELL JADE

John looked up as Bro got the door, pizza steaming from the boxes. He handled them with care, and could have been cradling a baby for as much care as he took. They were delivered to the counter, and offered up in silence. John felt too queasy to even attempt. Bro ate in silence. And then his phone dinged with a new pester.

TT: Is that Dave being an angsty teenager or having proper, human emotions about you acquiring a soulmate?  
TT: Of whom I presume is his older brother, Bro Strider.  
TT: Oh, yes. Please, do tell me his real name when you find out.  
EB: doesn't dave know his real name?  
TT: I am afraid not, which is a hint to their true relationship.  
TT: Though I doubt Dave realizes that.  
EB: i think dave isnt being angsty, rose.  
EB: i think he hates me :(  
TT: John, you know it is quite the opposite. Feelings of love can often seem like a slurry of abhorrence and contempt.   
TT: Has Dave mentioned anything about New York?  
EB: no........ why?  
TT: Oh. You should probably have him send me a pester at this moment.  
TT: That is if possible for you, that is.   
TT: Oh, good. Yes, it is.   
TT: Go now.  
EB: :( but rose........  
TT: John, this might be important.  
EB: ok........

 

TT: John...  
TT: John that is the cowards way out.  
TT: But perhaps you are smarter for it than I thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my matesprite no longer wants to do my karkat dialog (too much pressure) so I'll be continuing with it on my own. Sorry if it's shit. 
> 
> also AO3 was giving me problems with the formatting so sorry if something goes wrong there too.


	6. Circus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat knows damn well he's in over his head with this Egbert-Strider affair.

Karkat stared down into the face of his new smartphone, worry etched into his brow. He had barely been in the States three days and already shit was brewing a storm that was going to send the house flying down on Dorthy. He took a steadying breath, and then scoffed at himself. He was usually great at living in a constantly overbearing environment. It kind of came with the gig of living in the middle east today. He had been in an area where war hadn't been much of a problem yet, but his parents had been overbearing as fuck, and the hints of attack was enough for him to try one last time to find his soulmate, and hopefully a way out of that mess. But being in the States for only this long and all of the over emotional, crybaby Striders and nervous Egberts and soothingly clingy Harley's and—and-- every fuck that he ever dared make friends with! All of that was getting to him. The emotional climate here was stressing him, only because he cared. 

John's pester had him worried. Even through pesterchum he could feel his nervous laugh and shaky fingers. The last part hadn't really put him at ease. He decided to ignore it, imagining that John had a good reason to keep something so trivial from Jade. She tended to react...physically. Alot. 

When he felt her fingers thread up around his bicep, he looked over. She smiled up to him with that soothing smile. And after the crease in his brow went away, she lay her head against his arm, and he sat the phone on his knee.

“Compared to home, things around here are much more stressful.” He admit aloud. Jade giggled at him and sat up.

“Seriously? You're mom was on a constant roller coaster of drama! How are things worse here?” He gave her a sigh and rubbed his neck. 

“I didn't fucking care about what my family was doing? They always act like that, and I got use to it? John wasn't Dave's older brother's soulmate?” At that, he could see Jade's currently hidden dog ears prick up. She spent a moment to get excited, clapping her hands and giggling, but then her happiness dropped away.

“Oh shit.” She realized as she looked into Karkat's chocolate eyes. The etch was back.

“You could fucking say that shit again.” They sat in silence for a moment longer. Dave was probably in turmoil. John was his friend and all, but Dave was like a brother in arms. He understood things about Karkat nobody else would. Like having a massive crush on Egbert.

All Karkat wanted to do was go out and find Dave a soulmate. It fixed all problems where love was concerned. Even if your soulmate was platonic, it still filled in the hole in a heart. When you have a soul mate it was like nothing in your life could go wrong, simply because you had someone to share it with. Normal people didn't have a conventional way of finding their soulmates. Witches benefited most with a soulmate. Because having to deal with magic shit on top of soul searching shit and every day drama was the absolute worse. Having somebody there who could patch you up just right, kiss your owies and tell you everything was going to turn out alright, and mean the words that came out of your mouth made everything ten times better than just having someone who would absorb extra magic for you. 

Now he had nothing. John might have been like a companion, technically, but he wasn't anymore. John was not experienced enough to take on two Withes, much less a Warlock or a Warlock-in-training. Kanaya knew all about being what was witches called an Auspice between two Witches. He had often received harried messages about it, nothing he could call friendly.

John would be moving in with the two of them shortly, now. It was tradition and practicality. Familiars could get sick, just as John had before, only worse. Once a companionship was fully realized, sealed with a kiss and the whole thing, it was hardly pleasant being very far from your companion for too long. That is assuming John and BroStrider had sealed the deal yet.

Karkat could fell Jade's hand smoothing his face. He hadn't realized it had become so bunched. Relaxing, he relished the feel of her rough fingertips on his smooth skin. Closing his eyes and letting himself lean against the back of the couch brought immense relieve to his aura, which had been practically spitting thunder just then. He let his aura vision slip away as Jade cradled his face in her hand, caressing it wholey as she tilted him to face her. He didn't open his eyes. A soft breath on his cheek as she kissed it, and then found his lips with hers.

“Come on. Let them figure it out themselves. Until they ask for help, it's not our circus, Karkat.” She murmured lightly against his lips. He chuckled at her.

“Yeah. Not our circus, but they are our monkeys.” 

“You're not in charge of the monkeys, Karkat. I think, in fact, your job is to be a dog whisper.” She gave him a deeper, more meaningful kiss as she touched his hand. Grabbing it and tugging, He finally opened his eyes. She stared with green irises full of mischief.

“Yeah? That's a fucking relief. I thought with as much shit thats being flung in my face from these fucking incessantly screaming lemurs, that I might be the monkey tamer.”

“Nope. You are definitely a dog whisperer.” She giggled a little as a smirk spread across his face, grasping her hand firmly as she drifted from the soft towards to the doorway. “And there is a very mischievous bitch who needs to be put in her place, upstairs.” He felt the growl bubble in his throat as he threw himself against his soulmate, crushing lips against hers as they stumbled back towards the stairs. 

He felt her stretch contentedly beside him, her mid-day nap just having begun. Karkat plucked her glasses off the pillow, and deposited them on the bedside table before the got smashed or lost. He heard her sigh and she pulled the pillow her glasses had just occupied close to her chest, and began snoozing away. He chuckled. 

Pulling the blanket back from his stomach, he assessed the damage. But aside from the giant as fuck hickey at the place where his shoulder met his neck, he really got away unscathed. Unusual, for Harley's usual biting fetish, but not a problem. The big one hurt enough anyway. Karkat sighed himself, before flopping over onto Jade and weaving his arm around her bare stomach. He situated until the position of his arm felt most comfortable with his hand basically cupping her breast, fingertips brushing close to her armpit and resting on her ribs. Jade was only ticklish when she wanted to be, and mostly below the waist. She was perfect to cuddle with.

But before he could settle completely for the nap she always insisted upon taking, there were three curt knocks. He groaned.

“Karkat, I knock because I am polite but you and I both know I wouldn't disturb your post-coital cuddling unless it was urgent.” Karkat heard Rose annouce from the other side of the door. He was hardly covered by the blanket, and Jade was being her good old dog self. She was more comfortable naked then clothed anyway. He sighed and pulled himself away from her, before grabbing his boxers and slipping into them. He padded to the door and pulled it open wide enough that she could not see Jade's naked ass still napping on the bed.

There was a look shared and suddenly her aura was glaringly green, a shade that spoke anxiety and haste. But he had to question anyway. 

“What's so fucking urgent you had to rip me from my prized post-coital cuddles, but not important enough that you let me finish before telling me? That's a pretty fucking line to be standing at, Lalonde.”

“It's a non-urgent, urgent friendship call to arms.”

“Oh. Dave, let me guess.”

“Not at all. In fact, it happens to be John.”


	7. Shiver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's happening, John?

It began with a shiver of fear, actual cold striking his spine, but ended with him on the floor. His breath baited a moment, nothing but pain invaded his whole being. He couldn't make a sound. But the moment of complete stillness shattered like glass, and his baited breath gave to pitched screams as he grabbed his sides first before the shards of ice drove up and through his body. He clawed his eyes, which felt as if they might explode in his sockets, held his head against what felt like the mallet of a drum bouncing hard against his eardrums. Maybe all of his bones been splintered. He rolled on his sides. He wanted, more than anything, for it to stop. 

Between his groans and screams and the warping of his body, he felt hands trying to restrain and comfort at the same time. He vaguely felt a sheet of magic trying to wrap around him, trying to attach to him or find purchase, but it couldn't. He heaved himself over onto his back and clawed at his chest, trying to stop his breathing because even that shuttered pain through him too now.

He felt his glasses being pulled from his face. He pulled at his hair and screamed. It was too much. He wanted it to stop, any way it could. He felt like he would die. Somebody was saying his name, but it wasn't helping and so he didn't listen. He rejected anything that didn't take away the pain.

This all happened within only a minute. He had reached the thresh hold where pain no longer trumped mind, and his Fight or Flight kicked in and his mind thought of the most logical thing his mind had ever thought up.

The split second decision to turn into a dog had been the best decision he had ever made in his life, ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again. I have been pretty busy with my matesprit, who flew in for fkdsjgklnvriwa like a week. 
> 
> I enjoyed the feedback I got from a few of you guys. <3 It prodded me to give you all something before my matesprit leaves. I'm going to write another whole chapter after I take her to the airport. I've left you all hanging long enough. But really it's only going to add more questions.
> 
> Sorry.


	8. Spark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why couldn't he just be normal? It would have been a lot less complicated.

It was like in the space of four days things had gone from absolutely dandy to utter shit storm of unending chaos. But somehow, between those two things he had found what felt like utopia in the blue eyes of a 16 year old boy, a clarity he hadn't felt in years overcoming his usually clouded mind. 

Now where his clarity had begun he found a stormcloud of concern and even, if he let himself feel it, fear. What Dave had told him about John, what it meant and the idea itself, was disturbing. In all his life he hadn't come across such information but in myth. He knew only one other person, besides Dave, who had given it thought enough to even say words about it, much less give it the thought in the first place.

The look Dave had given him after confessing such heartfelt emotions well and truly scared him, even before he knew what he was going to say to him. The kid was his apprentice. There was a certain degree of respect he expected from the kid, but even more than that a brotherhood that nobody could breach between the two of them. Since he was young, orphaned, and alone in the Witch community, Dave had come to him for everything. Everything. But he had never seen that look on his face. Something was terrible, horribly wrong.

'Remember that trip I took to New York, a few years back?' He had asked him quietly. The tears in his eyes lingered, but the ones on his cheeks seemed to have evaporated. He nodded, but remained silent. Even though he had asked a question, it was not Bro's turn to talk. It was his turn to listen, and he could see that in the expression on Dave's face. His turn to listen, to learn from Dave something important. Time to take him seriously. 'It was Rose's Witching ceremony, and she wanted her circle to be there. So John and I left for New York. I told you things got bad, but it was so much worst that I told you. But we dealt with it, and we were okay, and so you didn't care, or so you said.

'Things go wrong.' He recalled to Dave. He nodded.

'Things went wrong.' He reaffirmed. 'Extremely wrong. Rose has always been pestered by the dark magics and evil. She communes with spirits, and sometimes they commune with her. That's where she gets her visions. But often she finds that evil wants to share in her power as well. That's why we were there, to protect her from that. Since John and I were two elements of her circle, we had to be there. Jade even flew in. Unfortunately, when we were in the middle of her ceremony her mentor was attacked and the circle was...crushed. Purposefully. With Rose's mental shields down, what usually protected her from unwanted darkspirits and evil, she was possessed.'

Dave's mouth stilled. His whole body seemed tense, like he felt he was still in New York. But he looked up suddenly from the nothingness that had his attention, and his crimson eyes bore into Bro's golden ones. He folded a line into his lips as he looked at Bro. He was silent still. But finally, after heaving a sigh and sitting back in his chair he made a face that looked almost reluctant, before continuing.

'We had to protect ourselves. Rose understood that. I managed to knock the darkness out of her, but it had gathered enough power to manifest by itself and it went for me next. Rose was out for the count, and Jade was with her, and John was protecting me. But somewhere between the physical beating I was getting I heard John's barks, but suddenly instead of barks it was a hiss and then when that stopped I saw feathers blue as the god damn sky land across the room in a pile. Rose's mentor was suddenly there and the darkness was gone. Rose was awake again, and I could tell from the look in her eye that she had seen it too, okay? John isn't just a familiar. He didn't just turn into a dog that day.'

What Dave had insinuated last night meant things Bro couldn't begin to imagine. Dave hadn't said a word or shown his face after he left his room last night. Bro was fine with that. He needed to see John and sort this all out. He didn't need Dave getting in his way. He rarely ever did, when it came to magic. But this concerned his best friend, or whatever they were. This wasn't about just magic anymore, and Dave had made damn well sure he knew that.

Bro couldn't sit still. He paced and ran his fingers through his hair and tapped a tune with his foot and flipped through spell books and in general fidgeted as he waited for John. A simple verse might have brought the boy to him in the blink of an eye, but Bro didn't want to scare him. That was also why he had sent a text message instead of asking him telepathically.(Besides, John probably had no experience with it anyway.) So what if Bro Strider might be feeling nervous. It wasn't like he was about to do anything completely and seriously fucked up because he wanted to get to the bottom of the John mystery. Plus it would be the official third time of ever actually seeing each other. He wasn't that nervous. Nope.

There was a little rap on the front door. He sped through the apartment to answer it, only to stop dead with his hand on the door handle. 

“Bro?” He heard through the door. The door he wasn't answering. The doorbell, this time, followed by louder thumps. He heard a crash from Dave's room, and suddenly he was being pushed aside by his younger brother as he opened the door for him.

“Jesus Bro, open the fucking door for him.” He spat as he shoved pasted him. He could hear John gasp Dave's name as Dave sighed and gave an excuse before leaving. He stood there as Dave hesitated, before finally creeping around and entering the apartment.

John look first across the living room before his eyes settled on Bro, and then he stood fully into the apartment. The door shut behind him, and he just stood silently for a moment.   
Sometimes Bro stood still in awe of natural magic. This was the most powerful magic, something even humans felt, when they got in touch with themselves and nature. The feeling that occurred when somebody looked out and felt connected with the forest, the mountains, the sea. It was natural magic wrapping them up and making them sigh. Though he understood how it worked and that it was out there, in the rare moments that he felt it and realized that nobody had conjured, incarnated, or called it made his breath hitch. Magic was something he understood so entirely, but in moments like that it truly felt magical. 

The pure magic that wrapped around his body like a ribbon, the stuff that seemed to love to remind him that John was his soul mate, that was not why he stood still. This was not one of those magical moments when the natural magic took his breath away. He was simply a coward who was scared to carry his plan through.

John gave him a soft greeting. It sounded good on his haggered mind, John's voice. Soothing on his nerves. Bro could feel his joints relax, but behind his glasses his face furrowed. John would forgive him. Even if he didn't want too. The comfort mixed in with guilt. John had moved forward, he was a little worried looking, but otherwise in a good natured mood. His words didn't matter much just then, only his voice. He let his words guide him, and called for the magic swirling in the air to calm John down as he raised his hands to the boys face. No worries. No worries. Bro chanted that again and again, working a cloud of calm around John as he took his face in his gloved hands. John stopped babbling, his mouth hanging open as he felt the calm surround him. 

There was a crackle in the air as he felt his power surround him. He didn't hesitate. The surge of magenta lightning coursed into his soul mate, and he watched as he first convulsed, breaking free of Bro's grip and flew backward, changing form. But it wasn't a dog that took place of the boy, no. A long haired cat fell to it's feet, clumbsily ran a few feet and conked its head against the wall, before changing, again, and veering headfirst into the ceiling with feathered wings before falling into a brown and black mess of fur. All the way he had been yowling or screeching, but now simply whimpering on his side in canine form.

This was not what he had expected. While he rushed over to tend to his soul mate, whom he was mentally blocking because of the pain he had felt only momentarily before he placed a shield from it, he realized this was not what he had anticipated at all. What had he thought would happen? He heaved John onto his shoulder, and deposited him onto the futon, belly down. He made him change forms, true. That was the first broken rule. He knew if John was hiding it Bro couldn't just ask him. He could have, but it was obvious that nobody else had ever even seen him change into anything other than a canine. So he had ruled that out immediately after talking to Dave the night before. He might have just delved into John's inner familiars, but for one he wasn't really close enough to do that, and it took a lot more time than just a little peak. And doing that against his will was another unspoken rule that would have been broken. So Plan C had won. He had thought that maybe John didn't know he had other forms. Or he just prefered his dog form and never really thought to tell anybody about the others. He would force the change, and John might get bashful or a little angry but ultimately he would admit that he was a shifter, what myth calls a familiar with more than one shape. 

This was uncalled for. The pain, the complete and utter lack f response John was currently giving him was concerning him. He carefully undid his soul magic, rifling through his soft fur with one hand as he guided his hand up John's spine. All Witches with a soul mate had the ability to change their familiar's shape. It was a general rule that unless there was consent from the familiar that the witch was not to do it. As a Warlock, with his talent, it was easy to change any familiar. And a matter of a little force put behind it to keep them locked in that form. Soul's were his thing, really, and when a familiar's shape wasn't showing he could reach out and super charge their soul with the energy they used to change it, and bam, cute puppy John. 

Only he wasn't just a cute puppy. He was also a kitten and a bird. And god knows what else. But watching him now turn back into his sweet, lovable human self made him wonder.

Changing back into a human wasn't helping his pain. Bro checked his mental shields, found that his bound to John still yield the pain that he felt banging against it. Wincing a little in guilt, Bro slid his hands up and down the sides of the kids torso. He felt magic, carefully crafted into his flesh. It took him a moment to lift John's shirt. 

Across his back he could see things. It was hard to tell, really, because they had been hidden so well. It was just visible when he didn't stare straight at it, on top of looking like heat waves rising off asphalt. A witch had put a lot of time to instill this spell into John's flesh. Bro didn't like the feeling in his gut, slowly slithering up his throat.

A slow evaluation and it was finally easily read, black runes swimming under his skin. The spell was nothing he had seen before, but harmless. It was a simple spell, meant to make John forget. The fact that it was huge and wrapped around his body meant he was forgetting either a lot, or something big. Something like the fact that he was a shifter. 

That spell was untouchable. Simple, but ancient and nothing he could even guess at without some major trial and error, or weeks and weeks of research. It could wait, because as far as the runes seemed to say they were not what was causing his continual pain.

He found the source quickly, though. It was inscribed across his shoulders, smaller scribbles in a language he knew. All it said was pain, pulsing in a ribbon. Inspecting his shield, he could tell it was the exact cause.  
Sometimes he reveled in being a warlock. It was basically like being the best at everything. Sure, there were some things that he wasn't very talented in, but there was nothing beyond his reach. Any other Witch would have had to call the grapevine to find somebody with a talent in breaking or making spells. With his years of practice, he knew how to lock pick his way through any spell, so to say. At least, any spell he could read properly. And if he couldn't read it, he could decipher it eventually, and pick it apart piece by piece before being able to put it back together or use it again. Sometimes he wondered if it was a little bit unfair, but he decided a long time ago, on his own, that it wasn't simply that he was good at everything. He just had the capacity to be good at everything. There was still so much he had to learn, as was evident. And so much he would never learn, or understand.

But this, this one was easy. He skimmed his fingertips over it, listening carefully as John grunted at the disturbed spell constricting in on him. Beneath the ribbon of pain lay the words punish. He tightened his mouth in concentration, before waving his hand over the line of words and lifting it off as if peeling a tattoo off his back. The words flowed like water under his hands, globbing like ink as he lifted the pain away and John's breath equaled out and he relaxed against the couch. John sighed.

He examined the ooze of inky darkness, dark magic if he ever saw it. He wondered momentarily who had infused the spell in the first place. Dark magic users usually got caught quickly, since the power of that magic caused many of the Witch to go insane. A very powerful one, perhaps. It was more likely a Warlock.

He flourished his hands around the inky darkness, and appearified a bottle to contain the magic before it tried slinking back. Magic of any kind which has been infused with the flesh of a person was usually not reusable. The magic would have had to be tailored for that person, specifically, or have learned that person so well it would want to return to its host, like a parasite. That's what made it dangerous to use.

Whoever had put these spells on John had meant to do it. Binding magic with flesh was hard to do and took time, and was very tailored. Bro watched with an expression of worry as he watched the other incantation swim under his skin. 

At least John wasn't in pain anymore. His hand rested against his cheek as John puffed calmly, deep sleep overcome him. He didn't know John, really. When your soulmate found you, or the other way around, it usually became apparent why the two souls wanted to find each other again and again. Whatever John had to offer emotionally was up in the air, but it was clear to him that John was special in other ways, and a spark of hope was about to lit a fire in his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm going to take it easy on all the magic plot for now. The next few chapters will be relationship building, yay!!! //No more using soulmates as an excuse to call this a Bro/John yayyyyy.....//
> 
> I may or may not choose to rewrite these first chapters over again in the future. But this is where they stand for now so I hope It'll be enough. If you have any questions about the magic and how it all works, ask away and I'll make sure to include it in the next chapter. But for the most part, if it can't happen in real life, than it totally happens in this AU.


End file.
